Achtung Schweinehund! by Harry Pearson (2008 Abacus paperback 247pp)
Born in the 1960s, Harry Pearson begins taking us through his early life in this somewhat-themed memoir. It quickly becomes clear that the UK culture at that time (for boys at least) was obsessed with the War (WW2) and the military in general.
Beginning with his relatives’ own tales of service, the young Harry soon becomes similarly obsessed and moves on through war movies, war comics, kit-set models, Action Man dolls, board games and ends up at what became his enduring love – war-gaming with miniature figurines.
At each point in this progression, we get histories of the toys/games etc and the people behind the products.
As the book goes on it becomes less of a memoir and more of a history of war-gaming in particular, stopping to describe the famous and infamous fans and inventors of the pastime.
Pearson introduces us to many of the people he’s met and mixed with in the contemporary war- gaming scene. Some come off as quirky loners and others as somewhat more dangerous people to know. He seems to be in two minds on whether to be embarrassed about his hobby or to be proud of how it affected his life.
There’s a lot of humour and a gentle sense of the absurd amongst the facts and figures. I was hoping the memoir material would re-appear but the war-gaming really totally takes over the book until the end.
Interesting enough for some readers but I found it was not quite the book I thought I was going to be reading.
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